Mages of Ardeim

Out of reflex, Max grabbed the lower back of his head, where his Iris chipset was implanted. He freaked out and let his feet decide his fate. So he just straight up booked it.

He didn't even bother maintaining his version of invisibility cloak, and without thinking dashed across the roof, alarming his pursuers below. As he leapt off the ledge, they managed to look up and glimpse his form flashing across the narrow gap between buildings.

The sound strings coming from the men's direction instantly grew erratic, signaling that they were shouting at him. His Iris automatically picked up on it, causing a chain of transcriptions to appear on his holographic screen. But he ignored it and advanced toward the next building. He didn't even need to look back to sense that the drone was following him from above.

His right foot pushed against the ledge and he launched into the air, before descending and grabbing the handrail of an exterior staircase of an apartment. His soles pressed onto the steel balusters, supporting his body as he hoisted himself up and off the railing. He ran along the steel flooring adjacent to the apartment wall before using the other end of the handrail as a platform to make another launch.

The next building was taller, so he had no choice but to land on someone's balcony before hopping up and grabbing onto the bottom of the railing of the above floor's balcony. He hoisted himself up and proceeded toward the floor above that. He kept climbing up floor after floor, scaling the upper third of the building's height before arriving at the roof. There were so many junks strewn about on its gravel surface, but he didn't care.

There was a bulkhead built on this roof, and as he ran across it, the door slammed open. Max knew a person just came out of it and saw his running form, and that they were saying something. But he didn't have the time to read the new transcription text on his Iris.

He jumped off the roof's ledge, almost diving onto the next roof that was way shorter than the previous one. He activated his gloves midair and as he almost touched the roof's surface, used kinetic mana to slightly push downward, softening his landing. He rolled on the floor once before getting up and ready to resume his run.

But suddenly, Nami conveyed a warning to him. 'Bolt!'

Before Max could even comprehend what she meant, a blue streak of lightning passed a mere inch from his right ear before it hit a roof structure a few meters in front of him. It burst through the structure's surface, creating a small hole on it, from which pieces of concrete fell off. The sound strings in his sight rippled erratically, indicating that the lightning bolt hitting the structure had just made a 'boom'.

Max's shoes skidded to a stop. He whipped his head around. One of his pursuers, the lanky man, had been allowed access to someone's room from the inside. This room, or rather, the balcony he was standing on, was right on the same level of the roof Max was currently on.

It took Max a second longer to process what had happened. The man had fired a lightning bolt toward him, but he didn't seem to carry any Wand. There was no mana stone seen anywhere on his body. It could be hidden under his jacket, but Max wasn't sure.

His peripheral vision then caught a movement from below. The other man had just arrived on the street next to the tall building. The bulkier man cupped his hands around his mouth before shouting something.

Max could tell it was a shout, based on the high volume he observed on the sound strings. Above, the drone hovered, as if waiting for what Max was going to do next.

He couldn't keep running. The drone would always know his location.

Being cornered like this, he finally decided to check on the transcriptions that had been flooding his notification. He started from the one that had appeared right after the drone's first message.

[Stop!]

[We don't wanna hurt you!]

[We just want to talk!]

[Max, stop running for crying out loud!]

[Hey! Read your Iris texts!]

[Young man! You better stop running or I'll have no choice but to hurt you!]

[Maaaax!]

[Hey! What are you doing running on my roof?!]

[Okay, that's it. You're giving me no choice!]

[NOW ARE YOU READY TO TALK?]

The last transcription was from the man who had apparently used sound mana to amplify his voice. Although it made no difference for Max whether he shouted with or without that amplification.

Talk? They just wanted to talk? Couldn't they have appeared less threatening if that was all they wanted from him?

Besides, the fact that the drone had managed to get his Iris' identification number was still bothering him. He felt vulnerable, and he didn't like it. Who knew what the drone pilot could do if they had the ability to access his personal data?

Or maybe they had already done that. The pilot did tell him to read their texts, implying that they knew he was deaf.

He stole a glance at the tiny drone hovering above before typing on his Iris. He amped up the volume of his speaker before confirming the text.

[Who are you people?]

The drone replied immediately.

[You'll know once you're willing to follow us and have a nice chat. And you know you can't get out of this situation. You can't keep running forever.]

Max stood still for a moment. His chest rose up and down heavily, and his heart was pounding. He also just noticed that his body was overheating and the mana waves around his heart were going wild, owing to the elevated cardio activity.

He took a deep breath and focused on organizing the mana waves into the ring foundation. He had no choice but to always keep himself in check before reaching the 1st Ring Formation stage, lest he risked blowing himself up. He could only be relieved of this risk once the ring was finally whole and able to regulate the mana traffic around his heart.

The sound strings vibrated slightly from the lanky man's direction before a new transcription appeared on his Iris.

[Wouldn't want to literally run to your death, right? Come with us, and we'll be able to guide you. Being Awakened without proper guidance is practically a death sentence.]

Max's eyes widened. He finally understood why these people were chasing him.

The lanky man saw his expression and said, "I am what you call a mage, and so is that guy below. I'm sure you have so many questions about us. And more importantly, about what you are now. 'Cause it's obvious you're not a normal human anymore."

Max read the transcription of the man's words and looked at his smiling form.

"My name is Dylan. I'm a lightning mage."

That marked Max's and Nami's first encounter with the mages of Ardeim.

– – –

With Nami holding on to his hair, Max was led into a decrepit building in the middle of the Northwestern Null Zone. It looked sketchy, if Max had to be honest. But he had no choice but to follow the two guys in front of him, with the drone gliding behind him.

They headed inside, and Max found out that it was actually an old apartment. Very old and very poorly maintained. The dirty walls were decorated with countless graffiti, the dim electric tubes on the ceiling lighting up the eerie hallway, with one up ahead constantly flickering.

One of the doors suddenly opened and a woman with blue-purple hair and minimal clothing popped out, followed by a man with many tattoos and a mohawk haircut. They were being intimate with each other as they passed by Max's group and out of the building. The smell of alcohol wafted by Max's nose.

Eventually, the group arrived at an elevator at the end of the hallway. After pushing the down button, the metal doors slid open. The sound strings made rough and sharp ripples, indicating that the doors must have produced a creaky or grating sound. They boarded the elevator and as the doors struggled to close, the bulky guy fished out a card from his jacket pocket. He then pressed one side of it onto a small scanner at the bottom of the floor numbers panel, before pushing the bottom labeled 'UP'.

Max had not once seen any facility in this apartment operating on magic. Seeing the contemplative look on Max's face, Dylan smirked.

"We don't want to announce to the whole country that we're housing mages. This poor and totally magic-less neighborhood serves as the perfect cover." His face then constricted into a deep frown. "Although, even we still can't help but depend on the underground mana network. Not a spot in this city is spared—"

The bulky man nudged his friend with his elbow. Dylan soon realized he had talked too much and shut his mouth. He then smiled toward Max. "Our leader will explain everything to you in time."

The elevator began moving. Downward. Which at first confused Max since the floor being selected clearly said 'UP'. He expected an explanation from Dylan, but the man was currently staring into space, his right eye glowing blue.

So Max just shrugged and stood awkwardly between the two men, with the tiny drone hovering uncomfortably close to his head. At this point, Nami had flown into his hoodie jacket, taking shelter in its warmth.

They arrived at their destination a few seconds later, and the elevator doors clunkily slid open. The view that was revealed before them was another hallway, but this time the gray walls were clean and the electric lighting was brighter. The two men gestured for Max to follow before walking ahead.

"You might be wondering, what is a mage?" Dylan said all of a sudden. "Well, you can say that we're the result of decades of human's exposure to mana. You know, humans, we adapt and evolve. Naturally, more and more of us are beginning to be born with genetic programming that are more in tune with magic."

Well, that made sense. Nature always made sure that its residents could always adjust to the changes that occured. And humans were especially equipped to handle such changes, able to adapt in such a short span of several decades.

The group continued down the hallway. There were double doors at the end of the hallway, and that was where the men were heading. Upon opening the doors, Max was immediately greeted with the sight of a small room, with one man and one woman guarding another set of doors further ahead.

Dylan waved at the two guards. They cast a glance at Max before receiving a nod from Dylan. The female guard then did the same thing as the bulky man when he had activated the 'UP' button on the elevator. She produced a card from her pocket before pressing it against a scanner on the right side of the door.

[Dylan, is this like a secret society or something?] Max asked.

Dylan was seen lightly chuckling. "Well, not quite. I'm pretty sure you've heard about us before."

As soon as he said that, the doors opened. And the first thing Max's eyes landed on was the big holographic flag slightly flickering near the ceiling. The background color was black, with three vertical golden stripes at the center. On both sides of the stripes, there was a pair of red angel wings that were constantly flapping.

It was the flag of The Revolutionaries.